Nigeria’s President Plans to Increase Agricultural Production

Nigeria, the world’s biggest producer of cassava, plans to raise the output of the tuber as part of its efforts to diversify its revenue base from oil and increase agricultural production, President Goodluck Jonathan said.

This year, the West African nation will earn $136 million from the export of 1 million metric tons of dried cassava chips to China, the president said in an e-mailed version of his nationwide television broadcast to mark the country’s Democracy Day today. The shrub, which is a source of carbohydrates, is also known as tapioca and its development is one example of the government’s move to diversify the economy away from oil, he said.